Those two words describe the way the Mt. Ararat High School boys lacrosse team played during Saturday’s 6-1 Eastern Maine Class A victory over Lewiston at Don Roux Field.
Consider this: the Eagles held a 56-23 edge in groundballs, 29-14 advantage in shots, and outworked the Blue Devils in the team’s fourth game in a six-day period.
“Those guys play hard and they want it,” said Lewiston (5-5) coach Bill Bodwell of the Eagles. “They out-groundballed us, they play with a lot of heart and their drive was awesome. We just got outworked today.”
Three times in the second quarter, midfielders Jeremy Hart, Kellan Bonnar and Zach Greene, along with attackmen Jonathan Brown, Nick Oram and Josh Richards, trapped Lewiston in its own zone, forcing 20-second midfield violations.
“It boosts the team morale when we ride hard and shut them down, and it allows us to play better as a team and not allow them to make their passes,” said Bonnar, who tied the game in the first quarter. “It was a great overall game for us to play.”
Lewiston out front
Blue Devils midfielder Chris Rancourt set the tone early, winning the opening faceoff and setting up shop in the Mt. Ararat defensive end of the field. Lewiston outshot the Eagles 6-3 in the opening 12 minutes, taking the lead when Shawn O’Connell beat Mt. Ararat goaltender Ed Maguire (six saves) with 6:41 remaining in the period.
Bonnar lost the next faceoff, but worked to get the ball back. With the Eagles enjoying their first man-up opportunity, Bonnar converted a quick pass from Evan Whidden to knot the game after a quarter.
“Face-offs, it is kind of my specialty, and I just wasn’t getting my hands out fast enough, and number 19 (Rancourt) has wicked fast hands,” said Bonnar, who won seven of his final nine face-offs.
The Eagles controlled both ends of the field in the second quarter, holding an 11-3 shot advantage and taking a 3-1 lead. Will Hirnak finished an end-to-end run by firing a shot past Lewiston thirdstring goaltender Tanner Hubbard, playing in net for the first time since the third grade because of injuries to the Blue Devils’ other goaltenders.
Mt. Ararat’s second man-up chance led to a two-goal lead, with Jeremy Hart finding Jonathan Brown on the doorstep with 4:20 remaining until halftime.
“We did a great job in the midfield, and the attack rode hard. We got a lot of opportunities, especially in the second quarter when we scored two goals,” said Mt. Ararat coach Matt Haskell, whose 7-2 team is scheduled to host Cony on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. “On a hot day (game-time temperatures were in the high 70s), we wanted to control the tempo of the game, and we did that. This was our fourth game this week, and with the first hot day, you want patience and execution on offense.”
Mt. Ararat continued to suffocate Lewiston’s attack, holding the Blue Devils to just two third-quarter shots. Hubbard made two of his 11 saves to keep his team down just two, but the Eagles kept coming as the game shifted to the fourth quarter.
After serving a penalty, Oram quickly grabbed a groundball, dodged two Lewiston defenders and bounced a shot into the cage for a 4-1 lead, and two goals by Brown late in the contest accounted for the 6-1 final.
Physical Mt. Ararat defensemen Brett Martin, Robert Cornelison and Kevin Nolan grounded the Lewiston offense to a crawl in the second half, holding the Blue Devils to just five shots.
“Our defense played a solid defensive game,” said Bonnar. “Every slide was perfect today, and we had that mindset that we were not going to give up any more goals after that first one.”
“I know we are a better team than what we showed today, but Mt. Ararat is the hungriest team around right now,” added Bodwell, whose squad plays host to undefeated Brunswick on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Alden Talbot had an assist for the Eagles, while Lewiston’s Matt Melanson was credited with a helper on the Blue Devils’ goal. Mt. Ararat was 2-of-4 with the man advantage, while Lewiston failed to score on its three chances.
Mt. Ararat 6,
Lewiston 1
At Lewiston High School
Mt.Ararat— 1203—6
Lewiston— 1000—1
Goals — (MA) Kellan Bonnar, Will Hirnak, Jonathan Brown 3, Nick Oram; (L)
Shawn O’Connell.
Assists — (MA) Evan Whidden, Jeremy Hart, Alden Talbot.
Shots — Mt. Ararat 29-14.
Saves — (MA) Ed Maguire 6; (L) Tanner Hubbard 11.
Man-up opportunities — Mt. Ararat 2-
4; Lewiston 0-3.
Face-offs — Mt. Ararat 7-4.
Records — Mt. Ararat 7-2, Lewiston 5-
5.
Next for the Eagles — Tuesday at
home against Cony, 6:30 p.m.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less